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By: Tatum Stafford
Whether you’re driving to the hills or heading up the coast, there are plenty of fruit picking experiences on offer in and around Perth.
With local farms growing everything from strawberries and apples to mangoes and cherries, there’s no shortage of great spots to get your hands dirty and find the freshest fruit you can.
Before you hop in the car, just be sure to call ahead or check each farm’s Facebook page or website to see when they will be open for business. Seasonal months provided below are approximate.
Here are seven farms and orchards to get you started.
The S&R Orchard is known for its seasonal events, with its spring Blossom Festival, Autumn Festival and Summer Fruits Festival drawing big crowds each year. The latter provides visitors the chance to pick some of the orchard’s ripest fruits to bring home.
Previous festivals have been first come, first served, with a $12 entry fee for adults. During the most recent festival, there were nectarines, apricots, peaches and sour green plums to pick. Other activities during the festival included cow milking, an animal farm, a bouncy castle and food and coffee vans.
Fruit picking season: Summer Fruits Festival, usually from December to March.
The Perth Mango Farm is filled with plenty of mangoes of all sizes during its season that usually lasts for a month or two from February each year. Upon arrival, you’ll have the chance to purchase mangoes from the farm shed or pay a price per kg to pick mangoes from the orchard yourself.
If you opt to pick your own, you’ll be given a bucket and a stick picker to help you reach mangoes that sit high on the trees. You’ll also have the chance to sample fresh mangoes as you pick them.
Fruit picking season: Usually February to March.
The Fruit Corner offers a wide variety of fresh fruit and vegetables available to pick, purchase and taste onsite. Though they are best known for their granny smith, pink lady and sundowner apples, the orchard also has mandarins, lemons, pink grapefruits, limes, pears, blood oranges, avocadoes and persimmons.
You can pick up a bag of fresh produce in the shed, or head into the orchard to pick your own. There's an entry fee per person plus the cost of the produce you pick. Also on offer are homemade jams, sauces, chutney and fruit trees for sale.
Fruit picking season: Usually January to April for vegetables, February and March for plums, April to July for apples and late November until late December for cherries. They are open on Saturdays and Sundays.
Spend an afternoon picking fresh strawberries at Kien’s Strawberry Farm, only a half hour drive from the city. Once you arrive, pay $15 for a cardboard box and get to work. If you’d prefer to skip the picking process, the farm also have pre-picked strawberry boxes for sale.
The farm’s opening hours and days depend on how much fruit is left after a day of picking, so it’s best to check their Facebook page before planning a visit.
Fruit picking season: Usually August to October.
The ‘pick your own’ experience at Carmel Cherry Farm offers the chance to pick up to 1kg of fresh cherries, lychees or loquats, depending on the season in which you visit. When you arrive, you’ll be given a bucket and a quick demonstration on how to spot and pick the ripest fruit.
The farm has a $5 entry fee for adults (kids are free), and a $25 per kg charge for fruit you pick. Bring your own bag or box to store fruit in, and make sure you book on their Facebook page before arriving – the booking button is only live for a limited time (sometimes as little as 10 minutes). If you don’t have a booking, you won’t be allowed on the property, so we’d advise liking their Facebook page to ensure you’re notified when sessions are available.
Fruit picking season: Usually February for lychees, September to November for loquats and November to December for cherries.
At this family-run vineyard you can wander through the vines picking your way through the juicy red and white seedless grapes. BYO scissors for cutting and a box for taking your haul back home.
Also on offer for sale (though not for picking) are figs, limes and pomegranate when each is in season. The vineyard is open on weekends and public holidays.
Fruit picking season: Usually mid-December to April.
Pick your own bunches of seedless red and white grapes straight from the vine at Padbury Pickings. Entry is free with all grapes $3 a kilo. Padbury’s can provide you with scissors and a box or bag depending on how much you pick or bring your own.
The vineyard is open for ‘pick-your-own’ fun from 9am-3pm Saturday and Sunday. Keep an eye on their Facebook page to make sure the season is still open.
Fruit picking season: From January.
